Global condemnation grows over a Florida church’s plan to burn the Quran on September 11th. General David Petraeus warns it could endanger US troops abroad. We speak with a Gainesville student who is helping to organize a series of counter events in the community; Mayor Craig Lowe, the first openly gay mayor, who was targeted by the Florida church during his campaign; and Moustafa Bayoumi, author of How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being...

While the hole at Ground Zero has yet to be filled, as billionaire developers bicker over the plans, the "news hole" that August brings has been readily filled with the “Ground Zero Mosque” controversy.

We spend the hour on the controversy around the proposed construction of an Islamic community center in Lower Manhattan, which has turned into a national issue. Opposition to the center first started among fringe, right-wing blogs but has swept into the mainstream, with some Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, coming out against it. Republicans have vowed to make the controversy a campaign issue in the fall. We host a...

Retired US Army colonel and historian Andrew Bacevich joins us for his first interview about his new book, Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War. "The question demands to be asked: Who is more deserving of contempt?" Bacevich asks. "The commander-in-chief who sends young Americans to die for a cause, however misguided, in which he sincerely believes? Or the commander-in-chief who sends young Americans to die...

An explosive investigative series published in the Washington Post today begins, "The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work." Among the findings: An estimated 854,000 people hold...

Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to announce today that five men accused of plotting the September 11, 2001 attacks, including alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will be tried in a criminal court in New York instead of a military commission. The move marks one of the first major steps by the Obama administration to close the prison at Guantanamo. To assess the future of Guantanamo Bay and the more than 200 men still in...

On the eighth anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, we speak to Democratic Congressmember Barbara Lee, the only lawmaker in either chamber of Congress to vote against the 2001 resolution authorizing the initial use of force. Lee recently introduced legislation to prohibit funding to send more troops to Afghanistan. [includes rush transcript]

As the occupation of Afghanistan enters its ninth year, the antiwar movement here in the United States has organized several actions this week calling for an end to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Dozens of rallies and protests are being held across the country today. We speak to David Swanson, who was among sixty-one people arrested Monday at a protest outside the White House. [includes rush transcript]

In its first-ever review of the PATRIOT Act, the Supreme Court has announced it will decide the constitutionality of a controversial anti-terrorism law that makes it a crime to give any form of aid, including humanitarian assistance, to groups on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations. The Supreme Court case centers on a lawsuit filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights on behalf of the Humanitarian Law...

On Oct. 7, the U.S. enters its ninth year of occupation of Afghanistan—equal to the time the United States was involved in World War I, World War II and the Korean War combined. Obama campaigned on his opposition to the war in Iraq, but pledged at the same time to escalate the war in Afghanistan.

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